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Restaurants That Let You Pay What You Want

Restaurants That Let You Pay What You Want

Have you ever been to a restaurant where you can decide how much you want to pay for the cost of your meal?

It
may sound like a recipe for certain failure, but that’s how a handful
of restaurants around the world operate, including Denver, Colorado’s So All May Eat (SAME) Café.
At the Denver eatery, wealthy diners rub elbows with the homeless, all
taking the time to enjoy the café’s delicious organic cuisine.

There are no set prices for anything on the menu—instead, diners simply pay whatever they can afford to for the meal.

“We operate on a pay-what-you-want model,” co-owner Brad Birky explained to Westword Magazine.
“So we have no set prices. We let our customers pick what they want to
eat and then pay afterward, however much they wish. If you can't pay
anything, then we ask you to volunteer an hour helping in the cafe."

Some
will pay $10 or more for the café’s pizzas and salads, while others
have no money to give. Those who cannot afford to chip in for their
meals are asked to volunteer an hour of time washing dishes in the
kitchen, but the request is not enforced. In fact, diners are simply
asked to place their payment in an envelope after they’ve finished
their meal. Their payments will not be counted until after they leave
the premises.

Surprisingly few people take advantage of this
trust-based system—the average cost paid per meal is about $3, and the
restaurant’s expenses average to about $2 per meal. While the
restaurant doesn’t make much of a profit, that was never its intention.
The founders, Brad and Libby Birky, created the nonprofit café as an
alternative to a soup kitchen—a place where people would actually like
eating so much that even those who could afford it would come and pay
for their food, covering the costs for those who didn’t have money to
spare.

Since opening two years ago, SAME Café is busier than
ever, with plenty of customers willing to pay full price for their
meals. The restaurant now serves over 15,000 diners every year—and the
Birkys are making sure that no one in their neighborhood will ever go
hungry again.

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